


A Trash Panda And His Dysfunctional Space Family

by ogasawara



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Rocket Raccoon-centric, also now that i'm back from hiatus i hope to get a lot less rusty!, once again, rocket raccoon swears a lot, your humble author can't tag to save their life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15146807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ogasawara/pseuds/ogasawara
Summary: Rocket isn't used to being loved, showing love, or any of that good stuff. So when he's adopted into a crew of misfits and gets to save the galaxy, not once, but twice, feeling accepted into a group is kind of a new thing for him. Being part of a family, albeit a weird interstellar one that argues constantly, is weird, but hey, he's learning.prompt; https://mouserzwuzhere.tumblr.com/post/131070692019/101-drabble-prompts





	1. "will you please just give me a hand?"

“Mantis!”  
“Rocket?” The raccoon let out a barely audible sigh of relief when he heard his friend’s soft voice, still cracking from drowsiness and lack of use. “Rocket, it’s the middle of the night.”  
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “Do me a favor, and put me to sleep? I just frickin’ woke up and now my brain isn't letting me go back to sleep again.”  
“Yes, of course.”  
Sighing, Rocket dug himself deeper into his covers as Mantis rested her hand on the top of his head, a gesture he usually despised. His eyes were closed, he was looking forward to feeling that familiar sensation of drifting off into oblivion- except it never came. A minute passed, and he heard a quiet sniffle issue from somewhere above his head.  
“Mantis,” he grunted, blinking his eyes open. “Mantis. I asked you to let me sleep.”  
“You feel very afraid, and anxious…”  
“Will you please just give me a hand?”  
Without asking for his express permission, the bug girl yanked him out of the covers and pulled him into a hug, her arms just the right tightness for him to be comfortable in. For a second, he squirmed, before realizing that her touch was affectionate, an attempt on her part to bring comfort to him, to get his thoughts to stop whirling around his head. Exasperated, Rocket let out an extremely weak chuckle, and quit moving, unwilling to admit that he appreciated the gesture.  
“You know, when I was a kid, I lived in this place called Halfworld.”  
Painfully, Rocket let the story of how he was experimented on as a cub spill out of his mouth like water being poured from a glass. He recounted the surgeries. The pain. All of the bloody procedures, until he finally met Groot and broke out of that place. Even after that, there were still so many issues. Avoiding the fuzz. Getting arrested for the first time. Groot’s annoying tendency to drink fountain water.  
“So, yeah. Maybe I’ve just been running, and running, and running from that stupid past of mine during the daytime, and it comes back to haunt me at night.”  
Mantis was silent for a couple minutes before speaking.  
“Well… You’re here with us now, right? You can stop running.”  
Letting only a tiny grunt slip in response, Rocket allowed the bug girl to lay him back down on his mattress and pull his blanket over him. Wholeheartedly grateful, he shut his eyes, waiting for Mantis’s touch to return him to an unconscious state.


	2. "why is there a drunk man sleeping in the bathtub?"

The angry yells issuing from the other side of the Milano’s interior were loud enough to get Rocket to look up from the two-player game he and Groot had been playing. “Hit pause on that thing,” he said, getting up to check it out.  
Every single one of the Guardians, with the exceptions of himself and Groot, were gathered in the bathroom. Craning his neck to get a better look, he was able to catch a view of someone who looked like Kraglin in the-  
“Why is there a drunk man sleeping in the bathtub?”  
“Kraglin got banned from some A’askavarian soup kitchen, so Gamora went to get him- stone-drunk, for God’s sake- and brought him back here.” Quill gave him a somewhat disgusted look. “And tried to get him to sleep in her bunk. But he refused, so… now he’s in the bathtub.”  
“What the fuck,” Rocket muttered, but didn’t delve deeper into the subject. “And I’m assuming that I have to clean him up.”  
“Nah. Mantis volunteered to do it when he wakes up. But he’s better off returning to the fleet as soon as she’s done.”  
Giving Quill a nonchalant shrug, he beadily eyed the unconscious Ravager, who let sound one loud snore.  
Kraglin was a nice guy, nice enough that he’d left an impression on Rocket. It was right for him to regret his actions enough to help him and Yondu leave the Ravagers’ ship, at least. He drank too much soup and could really do with a couple of singing lessons, but he was their getaway driver after the battle on Ego’s planet. He helped him get in touch with the other Ravagers to pay their last respects to Yondu. It didn’t hurt that he was his pal’s right-hand man, either.  
Rocket let out a long sigh. God, where was all this sentiment coming from?  
“Let him stay til morning,” he said, with a cheeky smile.


	3. "where did this cat come from?"

The sound of car horns blaring past Rocket was muted as it came into his ears, sounding out to him as nothing more but a dull echo. Not once did his eyes flick up to see the people staring at him, muttering to each other, as if they’d never seen a bipedal raccoon before. As if his scraggly features didn’t make it obvious enough, he hadn’t exactly been eating or sleeping enough. Not since Wakanda.  
He’d landed with Thor, Stormbreaker in hand, and Groot, bearing a gun, ready to kick some ass and take some names. He let a man with long greasy hair pick him up and whirl him around as they both shot at space dogs. He tried to buy the metal arm the man had, but was rejected quickly. He was ready for that fight, he knew that.  
He wasn’t ready for the aftermath.  
He wasn’t ready to see Groot beginning to disintegrate before his eyes. He wasn’t ready to hear him utter one final “Dad” before fading away.  
He wasn’t ready to see Nebula again, and hear from her that his entire family had faded, the same way as Groot, that he’d never see her again.  
At some point, Thor had said something to him, and he just nodded and followed him, numb to whatever was happening. They’d gone somewhere on what might have been a plane. He was numb to every detail but the heavy feeling of Groot’s empty pot in his hands, and the songs blaring from Quill’s Zune.  
Every time he hit shuffle, Father and Son came on, like some kind of fucking joke.  
He hadn’t been able to protect his son.  
At the present time, however, he was sitting somewhere, and there was something very warm and orange and alive on his lap.  
“The hell’s this?”  
“It’s a cat,” Thor’s voice responded.  
“Where did that cat come from?”  
“Go on, pet it.”  
“Wh-”  
“Go on,” and with that statement, Thor’s huge hand picked up his tiny one and set it upon the cat’s fur. Slightly awkwardly, Rocket stroked the cat’s side twice.  
“I guess it’s soft.”  
He brought his hand down the cat’s side a few more times, until it began to make a rumbly sort of noise.  
“It’s purring,” Thor said. From his tone of voice, it was clear that he was smiling. “That means it’s happy. And so am I.”  
“Why?” Rocket hissed, in a scathing tone. “Why does anyone have the right to be happy when half the population’s been wiped from existence?”  
“Because you finally were able to take something in, sweet rabbit.”  
“So?”  
“You’ve been numb for all this time. Perhaps it is for the better if you focus on healing for now. Today made it clear that at least a little bit has been completed.”  
“Yeah, so what? No amount of ‘healing’ is gonna bring Groot and my crew back, you know.”  
“It will happen soon, dear rabbit.”  
“Don’t fuck with me. That’s what everyone says.”  
“No, it will happen soon. I daresay, Stark and that.. Man of Ants fellow, they must have started thinking already.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah. They should begin putting it into action approximately a month from today, I believe. Using, er, time travel. I believe there’s a method, I mean, if the Time Stone exists I believe it’s very much possible to-”  
Rocket gave the cat a few rubs between its ears, feeling it vibrate in content.  
“Let me add to this plan of theirs.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for coming on this adventure with me!  
> Writing for the first time in a while is kind of difficult, especially after a really draining academic year with lots of assignments and things to worry about. But I'm hoping it.  
> Please bear with me as I attempt to refine my writing style and remember how character development without excess cheeze works, whoops-


End file.
